“Western Civilization”

and the

Western Civilization Course

· What is “Western Civilization”? Does it really exist? How has it been “imagined”?

· Who invented the Western Civilization course? Why?

· Why bother studying “Western Civilization” today?

I. Imagining “Western Civilization”: What is it?

· A Hebrew/Jewish Invention?  The Tradition of Ethical Monotheism

· A Greek Invention?  Individualism, Freedom, and Reason

· A Product of the Western Historical Imagination?

II. The “Western Civ” Course: Made in America

· Common Historical Identity

· World War I and Columbia’s “Western Civ” Course (1917)

· Post-World War II and the Establishment of Western Civ

· Critics of The “Western Civ” Course

III.  Why study the History of Western Civilization today?

· The Persistence of the West, Western Identity, and Westernization

· Historical and Cultural Literacy

· “Historical Thinking”: A Useful Skill